U.S. Patent Office
This is a forewarning to any future patent seeking engineers, better rush the idea to the patent office now. The new "America Invents Act," aka the Patent Reform Act of 2011, seeks to replace the First-to-Invent system to the First-to-File practice.
The change works like this, regardless of when a product is invented, the patent goes to the first person who files the idea. With the original first-to-invent policy, if anyone invents something, they are given a 1 year grace period from a provable inception moment to perfect their product and start the patent process. The new first-to-file clearly favors those who know the patent process and have the capital to file sooner. In other words, large corporations can finish a project much faster than a single person, and will get the patent. For the record, the rest of the world uses the First-to-File options, and the United States is the last to holdout for the inventor.
The act has already passed the House of Representatives vote, and awaits the Senate vote. If it passes, I think the free share of ideas and design talk will grind to a stop. It will be a sad day indeed.
Cabe